Gustav Mahler’s Majestic Third Symphony

From its powerful and expansive opening, through subsequent pastoral movements and showcases of beautiful vocals, and on to the final movement’s ecstatic conclusion, this is one of the most ambitious works in the symphonic repertoire, both in length and scope. In his Third Symphony, Mahler sought to convey the entire universe, its essential divinity and the response it evokes in the human soul. The resulting composition, a musical reflection of nature spanning over an hour and a half, is as tremendous as its aim. Hear why Mahler said, “the Symphony must be like the world. It must embrace everything.”